Upcoming Exhibitions

Frances Ferdinands: Between Latitudes

September 9 – October 8, 2017

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 14, 7PM

Frances Ferdinands is a Sri Lankan born Canadian visual artist whose exhibition history spans three decades. Her work is usually constructed in thematically-based series, and has always been concerned with social, cultural and political issues. Since 2007 her work has gravitated towards Sri Lankan references, and stories related to her own biography, including migration, references to her hybrid identity and childhood memories of trying to “fit in.”

Much of the work for this solo exhibition emanates from revisiting her homeland of Sri Lanka. There she studied with masters in the field of traditional Sri Lankan fine art and craft that is not widely practised anymore in the country. She states: “My intention was to study these old forms and revitalize them through re-interpretation within a contemporary context.”

Ingrid Ruthig: Re|Visions

October 14 – December 10, 2017

Opening Reception: Friday, October 20 at 7pm

The solo exhibition, Ingrid Ruthig: Re|Visions, builds on a series of 120 portrait-and-biography diptychs of women writers and artists selected from throughout history. This body of work questions perceptions and the accepted version of our creative legacy, by examining the skewed nature of biography, the portrait, literary and art history, as well as an artist’s sense of herself as creator. In working with a combination of text and image from a broad range of sources, Ruthig references representations.

“I’m fascinated by our collective determination to build, reshape, or restore from fragments a narrative about the world and ourselves in it, and how we imagine the incomplete story with the unknowable end.” Ruthig continues: “But that story is never entirely a complete or reliable one.” Through manipulation and layering, weaving and stitchery, her work scrambles perception and shifts the view to offer a re/vision of the individuals presented, in order to spur questions, to reveal the flaws and inadequacies of a man-made history, to re-see – rather than blindly accept as accurate – our text and image inheritance.

Given the 2016 centennial of women’s suffrage in Canada and this year’s 150th anniversary, now is a timely opportunity to reflect on the women – whether or not they remain visible – who, through their art, helped shape our views in this province, this country, and the world.

Bernard Leroux: Reclaiming the Bois-Brûlés

September 9 to October 8, 2017in the Jill Dyall Community Gallery

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 14 at 7PM

SG artist-in-residence, Bernard Leroux continues to reconnect to his Algonquin/Métis identity. Through his practice-led, print-based works created onsite in the Nick Novak Boxcar Print Studio, Leroux is “concerned with Indigenous ontology and epistemology with a particular focus on ways we come to know.” The artist depicts imagery of astonishing grace and delicacy that extends back into time immemorial—to the moments of Creation.

Finding Florence

October 14 to December 10, 2017
Opening Reception: Friday, October 20 at 7PM

Back in 1970, Station Gallery opened its doors with an inaugural exhibition of Whitby’s most famed historical artist. This posthumous retrospective of Florence Helena McGillivray brought exposure to a little-known and under-appreciated figure in the development of early Canadian art.

She was born on March 1, 1864 on a farm at the corner of Taunton and Lakeridge Roads. In the early 1900s she taught at what is now Trafalgar Castle School. McGillivray travelled to France in 1913 to further her art studies. Freely absorbing modern movements in Europe, she transported her influences upon returning to Canada.

She actively exhibited and pursued a career as an artist. She retired to live in Toronto in the 1930s, where she died in 1938. Her paintings are represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Gallery of Hamilton and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa. Many believe that she taught Tom Thomson a trick or two about painting.

During the sesquicentennial autumn, we’ll revisit and retrace McGillivray’s eclectic stylistic paths. Borrowing from both public holdings and private collections, Finding Florence will add presence and dimension to an artist who is only now rightfully attaining her esteemed place in Canadian art.

Durham College Photography

For the past 150 years, photographers have helped shape our world and given us a better understanding of human nature.

The School of Media, Art and Design at Durham College celebrated its first photography graduates in 2013. This exhibition offers insight into our evolution over the past five years. With better facilities and equipment, more dedicated faculty and an improved curriculum, our program continues to provide a balance between strong technical skills and artistic vision.

These young photographers use their cameras as conversation starters, tools of exploration and instruments for change. They have the power to document events, reveal truths and change the way we see ourselves.

Elisa Spinello

Yan Qing Guo

Matthew Mangra

If you’d like to see more of the fabulous work produced by our 2017 graduates, please follow these links:

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